Reload: Seniors, Freshmen, and a Learning Experience
by Classy Abigail
Summary: Yami, Bakura, and Marik are the uncontested gods of the school. Yuugi, Ryou, and Malik are the upstart freshmen who steal their hearts. But Domino High is a ruthless place to be a teenager, and it sometimes seems like everything is standing in the way of their happiness. YY/Y, R/YB, YM/M
1. What Started it All

Three imposing figures cut through the crowded school hallway, parting the other students like a sea of hormones and greasy hair. They were all of about the same height, though taller than the rest of the student body, and wore their superiority the way they wore their school uniforms – obviously.

"It kills me to say this, but for once I'm glad to be back in this hellhole," the teen with the bad bleach job spat, glaring about him as if daring someone to challenge him. The two boys walking beside him exchanged incredulous looks. Noticing them, he explained, "I was being driven to insanity by my rotten excuse for a caretaker."

"I do hate to disillusion you, Bakura," began Yami, the one with the precisely gelled spikes of black and red hair and the enormous chip on his shoulder, "But you hit insanity a while back."

"Small fucking wonder in a place like this," the third, Marik, piped up, his disdain for their educational establishment only rivalled by his disdain for combing his hair, apparently.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Yami mused, eyes raking the hallway. Of all of the girls whose eyes he happened to catch, a vast majority appeared to be visibly intimidated. Some even dropped their belongings, poor things. "God bless the Schoolgirl Stereotype. They're like little pieces of scenery, really." Having said his piece, he slipped a compact mirror out of his back pocket and used it to examine his gravity-defying hairstyle. Running a hand through to make sure that it hadn't hardened too much on his walk to school, he deemed himself sufficiently glamorous and tucked his mirror away.

"Tool," Unruly Hair quipped, jamming an elbow into his friend's side with so much force that it almost didn't seem friendly. It was, of course. That was just how Marik operated.

"Hypocrite," he shot back, "I distinctly remember recommending to you my brand of hair gel when you wanted to impress that Malik kid."

"Bakura, please tell me that Yami did not just mention Malik to me."

Bakura put a finger to his chin. "It's so strange. Marik. Malik. Do either of you think that's, like, kind of messed up? Pretty sure he's blond like you, too."

Yami and Marik simply pretended not to hear Bakura in favor of engaging in the same fight they'd been having for most of their relationship. Marik held that it was only manly to care about your appearance when you were trying to impress someone. Yami held that Marik was sad, misguided, and had internalized his low self-esteem to the point where he no longer thought looking good was possible. Marik didn't have low self-esteem at all, he would argue. In fact, Marik loved himself to the point where he knew he looked awesome without any effort at all, so why bother? This would throw Yami into absolute fits. The rest is almost unworthy of note. They had danced this particular dance so often that they would regularly recycle entire sections of dialogue. Lather, rinse, repeat.

On this particular occasion, however, their argument was unexpectedly interrupted. At the exact moment that he would have made his point about the importance of setting an example for loyal wannabes, someone came crashing into Yami, making him stumble backwards a bit while the kid who'd ran into him fell heavily with a distressed cry.

"Uh," Yami articulated, staring down at what was probably his doppelganger. Or his long lost twin. In fact, Yami was just beginning to suspect evil twin when those wide, apologetic eyes rose to meet his. His entire world ground to a complete standstill before the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

"I'm so completely sorry! Oh, gosh!" the kid was babbling over and over, snatching up his books and collecting himself, "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Yami chuckled at the thought. "Not at all. Are you alright?" Turning his charm all the way up, he reached out a hand to smooth a lock of dark hair behind the other's ear.

The boy simply stared up at him, wide-eyed and confused. "Why are you touching me?"

Yami pulled his hand back in shock, but he quickly recovered his composure. "Can you blame me? Your hair just looks so soft…," he lowered his voice and brought his face closer to the boy's, batting his eyelashes, "And you look so touchable."

"Well, thanks!" the boy said, nodding his head and pushing past them, disappearing in the throng of students in the hallway.

Yami stood rooted to the spot while Bakura and Marik lost their fucking minds.

"My advances have never been ignored before," Yami whispered, awed, to himself. Absently, his hand slipped into his back pocket, and he brought his compact mirror back out. "Who was that kid?"

The trio of high school royals met up outside of the gymnasium around the middle of the day to talk shit on what classes they had and who was in them. Yami and Marik were bitching and moaning about their shared history class all the way there, but they stopped when they saw the deviously pleased look on Bakura's face.

"Bakura," Yami began cautiously, "You have the same look on your face that you had when you burned down the record store you used to work in."

"This, while not nearly as gratifying, is still pretty good," Bakura told them, "Ryou is in my gym class."

"That little kid who used to come into the internet café every day and just scroll through endless cat pictures online?" Marik asked.

"That little kid who totally had you buying him fancy coffee every day at the internet café because you thought he would eventually be grateful enough to blow you in the men's bathroom?" Yami asked.

"Both correct!" Bakura announced gleefully, rubbing his hands together, "Let the seduction continue. Does stealing his pants technically count as getting into them?"

"No. In any stretch of imagination, no," Yami informed him, "Anyway, good for you, blah blah, what do you have next?"

"Math," Marik spat, "But at least you both are coming, too?"

"Just Bakura," Yami frowned, looking at his schedule, "I was put in remedial again."

"Christ Almighty, Yami, you ever gonna not be dumb?" Bakura asked in disappointment.

"Sorry, doesn't look like it." Yami shrugged his shoulders. "I'm off to remedial bio. I'll see you guys at lunch."

He waved goodbye to his friends and managed to make it five steps down the hallway when, suddenly, girls were swarming all around him, giggling and staring at him as he went by. Where had all of these students been a few seconds ago? Yami admired their tenacity and their tendency towards stealth. He'd missed the fangirls all summer. They inflated his ego and made him feel as wonderful as he looked. "Ah, attention," he mused aloud, casting his gaze around at them all, "Ladies, ladies, how are we today?"

The giggling rose in volume, and those closest to him began to chatter away, but he didn't really need to listen to them. A few well placed "really"s and "wonderful"s were all it took to make them feel special, anyway, so why try harder for the same effect?

Up ahead, Yami spotted the kid from the hallway earlier, headed towards one of the abandoned stairwells. Curiosity piqued, he waved goodbye to his entourage and followed. Was this kid one of the stoner rejects who got high between classes? The only kids who used the abandoned stairwells were the ones who were smoking or shooting up. Unless he just didn't know, which was also possible. The kid looked really young.

Yami peeked through the window on the door. Beyond the glass, Yami could see some giant behemoth of a kid standing way too close to the littler kid, who appeared to just be attempting to get around him and climb the stairs. Okay, so he didn't know.

Booting the door open, Yami strode into the stairwell with a powerful yell of "what in the hell do you think you're doing?"

The enormous kid – Ushio, Yami recognized the most infamous school bully from all of his remedial classes – recoiled from the smaller kid as if his hand had been burned. "Nothin', Yami, just bein' friendly an' letting this new kid know that me and my crew own this stairwell, that's all." His words were clumsy and clunky; he was an obvious liar.

Yami cocked one sharp eyebrow, frowning. "Yes, well, why don't you step aside so we can pass? I'll see that he doesn't make the mistake of coming this way in the future."

Ushio's face lit up in delighted relief. "Thanks a bunch, Yami, sir, have a good one!" And he was off in a flash, faster than you could say "Marik once burned his eyebrows off for taking their lunch table". Much faster, actually. And almost a quarter of the time it took to say "Bakura broke into his house, stole his dog, and seduced his mother last year."

"Sorry about that," Yami said once they were alone, "Are you alright?"

"Well," the kid replied, taking a few steps closer to Yami, his books clutched tightly to his chest, "Yeah, I guess. He didn't manage to give me the "ass-beatin' I deserve", so I'd say I'm much better off than I'd be if you hadn't scared him off."

Yami's eyes darkened. "He said that to you?" He quickly filed a mental note that this was a lesson that Marik and Bakura should teach Ushio together.

"I've heard worse," the kid shrugged, "I'm Yuugi, by the way. Yuugi Mutou."

"Yami Ahknemkhanen," Yami replied.

Yuugi smiled up at him, and Yami was struck by how innocent Yuugi looked when he smiled. He'd been a bit glib about Ushio's threats, which worried Yami. How could such a sweet-looking kid be the target of violence and bullying like that? "Well, Yami," Yuugi replied, holding out his hand, "I'm headed to remedial biology. Want to walk me there?"

Yami was surprised by Yuugi's forwardness, but his game was too strong to be thrown by the likes of sweet little Yuugi. "Turns out, that's where I'm going, too." He took Yuugi's hand, so small in his palm. "But I would have walked you anywhere, Yuugi."

A/N:

Hey, old friends! And perhaps some new friends as well, if this update brings SFLE to the top of the pile and attracts attention. Welcome to my chapter 1 reboot! I wanted to remake the first chapter of SFLE for many reasons, one being that my writing style and skill has greatly improved in the 6 or 7 years it's been since I worked on this project. Another is because SFLE still holds a large place in my heart. Another is because I have almost an extra decade of experience to bring to the table in my writing, and I thought the juxtaposition would be nice.

I haven't decided if I'm going to remake more chapters yet, but I just might!


	2. The Cafeteria

Yuugi trudged down the hallway towards the cafeteria, dreading the moment he would walk through those doors. The entire school had lunch together at the same time, and Yuugi had no idea how he was going to find his friends amongst the throng of Domino High students. He'd thought maybe Yami would have walked him to lunch like he'd walked him to class, but the other teen had immediately bolted for the door the second the bell had rung, and Yuugi had lost him in the crowded hallway.

He followed his classmates into the packed cafeteria and hurried to find a relatively unoccupied corner of the room to safely look for his friends without getting trampled. Never get in the way of a hungry student and Chicken Nugget Day, Yuugi knew from his middle school experience, and the high schoolers were a lot bigger than he was. The little teen stood on his tiptoes, searching for his friends nervously. He breathed a sigh of relief when he caught sight of the familiar unruly mop of golden blond hair that belonged to his best friend Jou.

He hustled over to the table just in time to catch the end of Jou's story of his beach vacation: "… I would've drowned him, but Shizuka made me stop. He was lucky she's such a sweet, little girl, or else I'd have fu- oh, hey, Yuugi!"

"Hey, Jou, hey, everyone!" Yuugi greeted, flopping down between Jou and friend Honda at the table, "It's good to see you all again!"

"Yeah, sorry we all kind of abandoned you in Domino," Otogi apologized, twirling a lock of black hair between his fingers and a set of dice in the other for no discernable reason.

"It's cool, Ryou was here with me."

"Yeah," Ryou agreed happily with a nod, "You guys wouldn't have had fun with us, anyway." He exchanged a conspiratory smile with Yuugi, who giggled and held his hand up for a high-five.

"Oh, God," Honda said with an exasperated look at Jou before fixing it on Yuugi, "Don't tell me you guys spent the whole summer watching soap operas and trading Duel Monsters cards."

"Hey, we all like Duel Monsters!" Yuugi protested.

"But you don't deny the soaps?" Otogi pressed.

"We would never renounce the soaps," Ryou said solemnly.

"Well, I can't argue with the Duel Monsters part, at least," Otogi acquiesced with a shrug, "I spent my summer working on Dungeon Dice Monsters."

"Oh, yeah," Yuugi thought aloud, "I remember you saying you were trying to pitch that to the Industrial Illusions gaming company."

"Well, I still need to finish roughing out gameplay before I can even start to work up a proposal," Otogi shrugged again, "But she'll get there."

"I bet it's gonna be great, Otogi," Honda assured him, "If you want, I can help you out this weekend if it's gonna be ready for test runs."

Otogi's face lit up as he whipped out his phone to check his availability. The conversation drifted away from the pair and onto Malik, who had just rolled up to the table significantly late, looking rumpled but unaffected. An upperclassmen trailing behind him who was carrying Malik's books placed them on the table, slapped Malik's ass, and disappeared into the lunch line. Malik snorted, muttered "indiscrete" under his breath, and sat down next to Ryou. He immediately slipped a pocket mirror out of his pencil case and began finger-combing his hair.

"Hey, Malik," Ryou greeted, "How're you?"

"Yeah, we haven't seen you in a while!" Yuugi added.

"Oh, you know," Malik replied, slipping his mirror away delicately. His platinum blond hair now fell perfectly straight again. "Went to Egypt. Saw some sand. Same thing as every year." The smile that played across his lips told an entirely more exciting story than his voice did, and Yuugi made a mental note to ask him in private about who he had met and undoubtedly hooked up with in Egypt. Malik was sort of private about his, well, private life, or as private as he could be. In a place like Domino High, it was hard to keep everyone from knowing your business. Yuugi could see a few people in the lunch line already whispering and staring at Malik. No doubt the guy who'd carried Malik's books in had already fulfilled the "tell" part of "kiss and tell".

Yuugi was sure it wasn't unique to his school. It was only his first day in high school, sure, but the rumor mill had worked the same way in middle school. The only difference was that now, everyone was a little older and the rumors were juicier. Yuugi quietly watched Ryou fill Malik in on what he'd missed from their soap operas. Yuugi and Ryou had been best friends since elementary school, but they'd taken Malik in only last year. While Ryou and Yuugi had always been bullied for being small and, well, less than the masculine ideal, Malik had been bullied for something much worse. He'd only transferred to their school last year from Egypt, and so he was already fighting the stigma of being a foreigner. Being openly gay and promiscuous on top of that ensured that he was ruthlessly mocked and attacked daily. Yuugi and Ryou stepped in to offer him their friendship, and along with them came Jou and Honda to make sure no one ever raised a hand to Malik again. Being two ex-bullies themselves, Jou and Honda were the ones that had always kept Ryou and Yuugi more or less safe in school, and now they did the same for Malik.

Yuugi looked over at Honda and Otogi, who were still discussing Otogi's new game. Honda most definitely had a crush on Otogi, but they were much too different for it to ever come to something. Otogi was like Malik; he dressed well, wore make-up, got his hair professionally done, and almost never got his hands dirty. Honda, on the other hand, was almost painfully straight. His hobby was fixing up old cars and motorcycles, for God's sake. It could work, Yuugi knew, but would they ever give it a chance? All signs pointed to nope.

Jou nudged him then, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Yuugi, I heard today that Ushio and Yami we're giving you trouble."

Yuugi shook his head. "No, Ushio was giving me trouble, like always, but Yami helped me. Ushio was really scared of him, and Yami walked me to class."

Jou nodded, but he didn't look completely convinced. "Be careful around Yami, Yuugi, and Bakura and Marik, those guys he hangs out with. You guys just came up here, but me and Honda and Otogi are only a grade behind them, so we've seen the kind of stuff they do."

Yuugi looked at him, confused. "But Yami helped me out. If he wasn't nice, wouldn't he have left me to Ushio?"

Jou shook his head. "Nah. See, Yami and Ushio got beef with each other. Yami doesn't let Ushio get away with stuff in the high school. That's why he always picked on you before when you were in middle school. High school is their turf," he inclined his head to the table at the very front of the room, where Yuugi just now noticed Yami and two others were sitting, "So just be careful, alright?"

Yuugi nodded, a feeling of unease settling into the pit of his stomach as he continued to watch the high table.

Yami, of course, was completely oblivious to the current conversation going on about him, as he usually was. The volume of conversations people had about him was simply too much for him to pay attention to. He was too busy holding court with Bakura and Marik, anyway.

"Got it from some freshman that Ushio was basically never not bullying that Yuugi kid in middle school," Marik told him as he shoveled nugget after nugget of glorious, grade B chicken meat into his hideous mouth, "Which makes sense. You guys kinda look alike, and you're the reason Ushio can't fuck with people up here."

Bakura nodded, also plowing the delicious nuggets into his own hideous mouth and washing them down with squirts of ketchup straight down his throat. He paused for air and to add his input. "Can't believe these wannabees are still stepping over the line. Has he forgot about all the times we've hidden roadkill in his locker?"

"Evidently." Yami's face was impassive. He was deep in thought, trying to assess his own feelings. He bit into a nugget absently. Ushio had to be dealt with, there was no doubt to that. What he was to do with Yuugi was another matter altogether. Normally, the answer was nothing, but this was rapidly turning into a special case. He wanted Yuugi by his side, but there was no way he was going to fit in with Bakura and Marik. They were completely insane and violent and creepy. No, he couldn't really make Yuugi his friend. His gaze strayed across the room until he found the table where Yuugi sat with his friends, chatting happily.

Yuugi was talking to Ryou about something, and Yami took note of the way Yuugi laughed with his entire body. When Ryou said something funny, which was apparently often, Yuugi's head would tilt back and he would put his hands over his heart, shoulders shaking and knees bouncing like an absolute dork. Yami was captivated. They were pretty far away from each other, but the cafeteria was built on kind of a slant due to the shittyness of the building, so Yami had a good view of the way Yuugi's eyes were shining with unshed tears as he turned to the side and bit his knuckle in an attempt to stop laughing so damn loudly. Seriously, Yami could hear his peals of light, happy laughter from all the way over here. How could anyone be so annoyingly perfect?

Bringing himself mentally back to Bakura and Marik, who hadn't even noticed their friend's distraction, he slapped his hands on the table. "Bakura."

Bakura looked up at him, a fistful of chicken halfway to his mouth.

"You're in charge of Ushio's punishment."

Bakura looked at Yami, eyes full of weird, creepy, childlike delight. "What am I not allowed to do?"

Yami looked back over to Yuugi's table. "No debilitating injury. Everything else goes."

Bakura looked like he could cry. "Have I told you lately that I love that beautiful mouth of yours?"

Marik followed Yami's eyes, and when he saw where the other was looking, his jaw dropped. "No way. No fuckin' way."

"Hm?" Yami questioned.

"It's him," Marik breathed in disbelief, "It's him, guys. Malik."

Bakura quirked an eyebrow. "Who, the one next to Ryou? Didn't you meet him, like, last year when your brother dragged you to Egypt?"

Marik nodded, dumbfounded.

"What the hell is he doing here, then?" Yami asked.

Marik shrugged, mute.

"You gonna go talk to him or what?" Bakura goaded.

Marik only continued to stare, eyes wide and impossibly focused.

"Hey!" Yami barked, sharp, and elbowed Marik straight in the ribs. That got his attention. "Go talk to him."

"Now?"

And, honestly, for the first time in his entire goddamn life, Marik Tokoshie actually looked unsure.

"Yes, now."

Marik stared at Yami for another second, then nodded and stood. In seconds, he was standing at the head of the freshman's table, no hesitation. "Malik."

Malik looked up at him then paled as if looking at a ghost. "Marik," he mouthed, voice inaudible. Then, "Marik!" he near-screamed, leaping up and launching himself at the other teen. Marik anticipated it and caught him smoothly like they'd done a hundred times before and spun him around with loud laughter. Malik himself was giggling uncontrollably. "Oh my God, what are you doing here?!" he asked, still toeing the line between talking loudly and screaming.

"I live here, dumbass!" Marik replied, holding Marik up off the ground and pressed to his chest. "What are you doing here? You don't fucking live here!"

Malik leaned in to him so that the tips of their noses just barely touched. "I do live here, idiot. I've lived here since last year. You never asked me if I lived in Egypt full-time."

"You're Egyptian, you hot fucking mess. I assumed you lived in goddamn Egypt."

Yami and Bakura watched this exchange from across the cafeteria with raised eyebrows and lowered jaws.

"Marik's being… oddly…," Yami fumbled for words.

"Affectionate," Bakura finished.

"Sentimental," Yami added with a shrug.

"He actually laughed. In a scenario where no one told an offensive joke or got seriously injured, Marik laughed."

"That he did."

"You didn't hit me, I didn't hit you, no one is shoving freshmen in lockers, I don't… Do you see him smiling?!"

Yami cast a sidelong glance at Bakura. "You seem incredibly hung up on the idea of Marik's happiness not coming at the expense of anyone else, Bakura."

"Has it ever happened before?" Bakura challenged.

"Never, in the history of man."

Back at the table, Marik had finally put Malik down as the entire cafeteria was hushed, everyone staring at them. Malik squirmed under the attention, but Marik had eyes for no one else in the room. "So, you wanna get out of here? Go somewhere and catch up?" By the tilt of his eyebrows and the smirk on his lips, it was obvious that the "catching up" Marik had in mind wasn't about discussing their time apart but rather making up for it.

Malik kept his expression steady. "That's a good idea; let's get out of here. Get my books?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he all but bolted from the room.

Marik watched him go for a second, then turned to the table and scooped up the stack of books. "Later, Malik's friends."

Yuugi watched them leave with a worried expression on his face that Ryou mirrored. "Jou?" Yuugi asked.

"Yeah?" Jou answered dumbly, stunned at what had just happened.

"What's Marik's reputation like?"

Jou snorted. "Well, if he's moving in on Malik, that means he's already fucked his way through all the other grades."

Yuugi's heart dropped. "I thought so."

Ryou sighed. "Poor Malik."


	3. The Invitations

It was over his morning bowl of cereal before school that Yuugi Mutou heard the news about poor Ushio. When his grandfather had pointed to the picture on the television asked if he was a friend of Yuugi's, the boy only laughed and shook his head, gleefully shoveling marshmallows and sugary cereal pieces into his mouth. If this is what happened to bullies who crossed him now that he was friends with Yami, then Yuugi figured he should have befriended the senior a long time ago.

Yami himself found out about Ushio's fate long after the news broadcast Yuugi saw. He was riding in the car to school with Bakura and Marik, like they usually did, when Bakura gave them the nitty gritty on how, exactly, he had carried all 230 pounds of hog-tied douchebag up the water tower and left him there around 3 in the morning.

"I can't believe it took those incompetent pigs three whole hours to find him!" Bakura exclaimed in delight. He took a celebratory swig of his coffee, looking smugly through his eyelashes up at Marik, who was beaming at him.

"You beat my fuckin' record, man, I am so proud right now. Shit," Marik told him with a vicious grin, "You know I can't take that lying down."

Yami nodded, also feeling pretty damn smug about Bakura's delinquent success. He sipped at his own coffee before pulling his sunglasses off of his head and putting them on his face when they drove up to the school. Bakura and Marik followed his lead. The chauffer stopped the car and opened their doors for them, and they stepped out into the swarm of students awaiting them in front of the school. Most of the students pretended not to notice them, feigning conversation with those around them, but a significant amount of the female students weren't even trying.

"Good morning, Yami!"

"Is that a new jacket, Yami?"

"What kind of coffee are you drinking, Bakura?"

"Marik, call me back!"

Yami made nice with the girls while Marik and Bakura feigned indifference. Public opinion was Yami's specialty. He always had a nice word or a pretty compliment on hand for them, whereas Marik was infinitely more likely to punch the first one who tried to touch him.

"Who dyes your hair, Yami?"

"Bakura, Bakura, I'm wearing your jersey numbers to the game Friday!"

"I love you, Marik, did you lose my number?!"

They eventually pushed their way through the crowd with Yami spearheading their group, placating the girls with little acknowledgements. Their sunglasses served to block a lot of the flash going off from camera phones. Some of the photographers legitimately wanted pictures, but most were interested in selling them to the tabloids. Wealthy families who send their sons to public school by limo tend to attract that kind of behavior on the regular, and it was routine to the trio by now. 

That didn't mean that it didn't piss Bakura the fuck off, though.

"God, I hate them all so much," he growled out, slamming back the rest of his coffee and crushing the cup in his fist, "Wouldn't it be nice if they all just died?"

"Bakura, Bakura," Marik tutted, the least affected of the three, "Stop caring. Seriously. It's just that goddamn easy, man. Look at me, see?" He held his arms out at his sides, stopping in the middle of the hallway. Students streamed around him like he was a boulder in a river, no one daring to touch him. A placid smile settled on his face before he turned and sent his fist sailing into a locker, denting it significantly. When he pulled his hand back, the skin on his knuckles was split, but his face hadn't so much as twitched. "Look at what I can do because I don't care."

Yami raised a perfectly penciled brow. "Seemed like you cared a whole hell of a lot about a certain Malik Ishtar yesterday in the cafeteria."

Marik's smile dropped. Bakura was pleased, if his wolfish grin was anything to go by. "Yeah, how'd that go, by the way? Never seen you so excited to fuck someone before."

Marik shrugged. "I was surprised, fuckin' sue me. I saw him, like, every day this summer when I was in Egypt, but I didn't know he lived here."

"You guys gonna go out?" Yami questioned.

Bakura barked out a laugh. "Marik, date? Yami, God, do you hear yourself when you open your idiot mouth?"

Marik snorted in amusement. "Yeah, Yami. When have I ever kept anyone for more than, like, three fuckin' days?"

"Never," Yami conceded, "in the history of man. It just seemed like, I dunno, you had it different for that kid. Me and Bakura both thought you seemed really happy yesterday when he hugged you."

Bakura shrugged his shoulders begrudgingly.

Marik's brows drew together. "Well, what about you, Yami?"

"What about me?" Yami asked.

"This Yuugi kid you're having us protect. What's he to you?"

Yami's eyes narrowed as he thought. "It, in complete honesty, bothered me all night. He smacked into me in the hallway, and it was like he didn't even know who I was, you know?" Bakura and Marik both nodded, remembering. Encouraged, Yami pressed forward. "And I guess I feel bad for him, getting picked on by Ushio and literally every other bully in a twenty mile radius." They had reached their lockers, and Yami thumped down in a lean against his. "He's attractive, so there's that. God, he's so cute, it's completely unfair! He just throws me off balance so bad! I'm the one who's supposed to be pursued romantically, guys, I'm the one people get crushes on, not the other way around!"

Bakura fiddled with his locker. "Has it occurred to you that maybe you're going soft for him?"

Yami snorted incredulously. "Please, Bakura. I know what romantic feelings are. I'm not you and Marik."

Marik head-butted his locker, springing it open. "That's fair."

Bakura shrugged. "I don't know what you mean by that, as I've got plans to ask Ryou out to Anzu's party Friday night."

Marik stared hard at him. "Well, fuckin' look at you, huh?"

Yami's eyes lit up. "Maybe I'll ask Yuugi to go with me. That'd turn the tables for sure. He'll definitely be out of his depth at Anzu's party. He probably won't even know anyone except for me!"

Bakura and Marik shared a glance. Bakura looked like he wanted to say something, then thought better of it. He wasn't one to judge based on morality. He had, after all, just committed a kidnapping earlier that morning.

Later that day, Bakura found himself single-handedly destroying at basketball in gym class. He'd thrown on his jersey for intimidation factor and was just wreckin' kids left and right. Gym scrimmages never posed much of a challenge for Bakura, but if he was being honest – and he'd never admit this in front of Yami, God forbid – he liked playing in class. It gave him a chance to show off and bask in the admiration of his classmates up close and personal instead of just them cheering from the stands. Basketball was big at Domino, and Bakura Necrophades was their star.

When the teacher let everyone off the court to go change, Bakura made a beeline for Ryou. He threw an arm around the other teen's little shoulders. "Ryou! You looked good out there," he complimented, guiding him towards a relatively uncrowded corner of the locker room.

Ryou laughed very, very quietly and murmured, "So did you."

Bakura frowned. "You okay? Something wrong with your voice?"

Ryou waved his hand dismissively and bent over to rummage through his duffel bag, eventually extracting an inhaler and taking a long drag from it. "Sorry about that. Asthma. Anyway, thanks for saying I did well. I know I didn't, but I appreciate the encouragement."

Bakura whipped his jersey off and turned to his gym locker to grab his deodorant. He applied it slowly, careful to flex his muscles when he raised his arms up. He hoped Ryou was enjoying the show; the rest of the locker room certainly was. His expression was smug as he looked down at Ryou with an easy grin. "It's good to just relax and play the game with no stakes for once, you know? Usually, the game's riding all on me, and the pressure gets tough." Bakura shrugged, sliding out of his gym shorts so he was standing in nothing but his baby blue boxer briefs. "It's good to play for fun."

Ryou nodded politely, slipping his school jacket on over his white gym shirt and buttoning it up. Bakura frowned. He was at least a little gratified when Ryou had to take his gym shorts off to put his uniform pants on, but it was a small victory. He was a shoulders man and had wanted to see the way his milky white skin stretched over his collar bones pretty damn badly, actually. Well, there was plenty of time for that later. Speaking of, "So hey, you, uh, you doing anything Friday night?"

Ryou thought about it for a moment, finger combing his hair a little. "I don't think so."

Bakura smiled down at him charmingly, still mostly naked as he leaned over Ryou slightly. His heart sped up a little when Ryou turned his big brown eyes up at him, the picture of innocence. He also had kind of a thing for corrupting the cute ones, and Ryou was damned perfect. "Mazaki is having a party after the football game. Want to go with me?"

Ryou bit his lip. It was almost too cute for Bakura to just stand there and not touch. He held himself back somehow. "Well, my parents probably wouldn't want me out too late."

Bakura pouted, reaching out and touching Ryou's jaw lightly. "Awh, come on, Ryou. Have a little fun with me." He winked, which might have been overkill if the way Ryou shied away slightly was any indication.

"Uhm, I guess."

Even though Ryou all but sprinted away from Bakura, the older teen couldn't hide the spring in his step. He dressed quickly, said a flirty goodbye to Ryou and sauntered off to find his friends and tell them of his success.

Said friends were found later that day in the cafeteria at their usual table. Yami was opening a plastic box of food he'd brought from home while Marik was greedily wolfing down what looked like half a pizza.

"Guess who has a date!" Bakura singsonged, flopping down into his usual chair.

"Is it you?" Marik asked, "It's you. Right?"

"Yes, Marik, it's me," Bakura confirmed dubiously.

"And I'm about to have one," Yami told them, eyes narrowed and a predatory smirk on his lips as he zeroed in on Yuugi, who had just gotten up to enter the lunch line.

He rose and crossed the cafeteria purposefully, but he didn't rush. He relished the moment when Yuugi caught sight of him, those big eyes widening even further and his pouty little lips parting in surprise. "Hey, Yuugi," he purred when he got close enough.

"Hey, Yami, what's up?" Yuugi greeted, a smile lighting up his face, "I missed you in the hallway earlier."

Yami couldn't help the way his smirk morphed into a genuine smile. Yuugi had been looking for him. "Sorry, I'll be sure to come find you tomorrow before school so we can hang out. Anyway, I was wondering if you had anything going on Friday night."

Yuugi shook his head. "Nope. Ryou usually comes over, but he literally just got done telling me that he can't do it this week."

"Well, would you want to go with me to Anzu's party after the game?" Yami asked, leaning in closer to Yuugi and touching his arm lightly.

Yuugi's smile was absolutely breathtaking. "I'd love to."

Yami felt his heartbeat pound against his chest. "Great. See you in class later, Yuugi."

As Yami walked away, Yuugi watched him go longingly, a warm feeling spreading throughout his entire body. He even almost sighed, that's how happy and dream-like he felt. Yami was just wonderful, no matter what Jou said about him. He'd been discouraged when Yami hadn't come up to talk to him that morning, but seeing him go out of his way and leave his friends to come invite Yuugi to a party – and the party of the most popular girl in school, at that! – restored all of his faith in the senior.

He continued through the lunch line, thoughts occupied with nothing but Yami and the party, until he came back out and walked back to his friends, which was when he became aware of all the whispers and stares as he passed the other tables. When he finally set his tray down, he immediately turned to Jou. "Why's everyone staring at me?"

Jou rolled his eyes at his naïve little friend. "Yuugi, the most popular guy in school just publicly asked you out on a date. And he is notorious for not dating. Why do you think they're staring?"

"Oh," was all Yuugi could say for a moment, before, "Wait date?!"

"Oh, come on now, Yuugi," Otogi chimed in, "It's pretty obvious he's into you."

"And equally obvious you're into him," Ryou added, jabbing his fork at Yuugi for punctuation. "The only reason I didn't feel that bad about cancelling on you Friday was because I knew you'd be getting invited to Anzu's."

Just then, Malik strolled up to the table, this time uncharacteristically alone and carrying his own books for once. Yuugi quirked an eyebrow while Ryou shot a pointed look up to the seniors' table. Malik shook his head. "Nah, I know what you're thinking, and it's not like that."

"It just seemed like," Yuugi began and trailed off, waving his hands a little to try and convey meaning.

"Like we were together?" Malik suggested and shook his head again. "Marik and I understand one another. He's hot, but he's not looking to date, and neither am I. There's really no reason for him to hang out with me every day."

"Even after your little reunion yesterday?" Ryou questioned.

Malik shrugged. "Guess I'm the best he's ever had."

"Well, Ryou and I got invited to Anzu's party on Friday by Yami and Bakura," Yuugi announced to him, "Is Marik going to ask you, too?"

Malik shrugged. "If he doesn't, I'm probably going to go anyway. Someone needs to watch out for you two."

Yuugi nodded, searching for any signs of sadness on Malik's face. He knew his friend well, and he knew that he liked Marik more than he was letting on. He watched Ryou shoot another pointed look at the seniors' table and knew the other boy was thinking the exact same thing.


	4. Yuugi's Mind Games

Yuugi woke up on Friday morning in an awesome mood. Today was his date with Yami! And it was his first football game, too! He had no idea what he was going to wear, and he couldn't wait.

His mood was quickly crushed, however, by an announcement from his grandpa.

"My father is coming to Domino?!"

His grandpa, oblivious to his dismay, grinned and nodded. "Yup! I got the call from him last night, but I didn't want to wake you up. He says he's flying all the way from England this morning to be here tonight! I'll have to make the guest room up right away for him, and we'll need to buy extra groceries this afternoon."

"Tonight?!" Yuugi cried, hands flying up to grip his hair.

Grandpa continued to make his verbal list of activities to be completed, interspersed with the occasional outburst of excitement for Yuugi to finally reconnect with his father, seemingly unaware of how Yuugi was the exact opposite of excited at the prospect.

In fact, Yuugi couldn't decide how much of his distress was fear and how much was anger. He'd seen his father from time to time throughout his life, but it was only while his mother was still alive. Yuugi hadn't ever been old enough to understand what was happening at the time, but the ratio of times his mother had told him that "Daddy is finally coming home to live with us again!" to the times she had cried herself to sleep at night was one to one. After she'd died, Yuugi's father had stopped coming around.

Well, he would play nice for now for his grandpa's sake, but only so long as his father did the same. And somehow, Yuugi doubted that his father was making the trip to Domino to heal old wounds.

He carried the weight of his father's impending visit with him to school, where he allowed it to burrow deeper and deeper underneath his skin. What could that man possibly hope to accomplish by coming to Domino? As far as Yuugi knew, his father was having a very successful life in England running his gaming company, if the child support checks he received every now and then were anything to go off of. Mutou Corp. put out just enough successful games a year to remain in the top ten of gaming companies, but they were no Industrial Illusions. From what Yuugi knew from the one and only time he ran an internet search on his father, Roku Mutou was happily married to an English woman named Brigitte and had been for twenty years. Putting those puzzle pieces together didn't take much, and Yuugi had never gone digging again.

When he made it to his science class and spotted Yami, all thoughts of his father left his mind for a moment and he smiled. It didn't last very long, though. As he slid into his seat, he realized what a visit from his father might mean for his plans for the evening.

Yami's hand on his shoulder had him smiling again – though it was somewhat forced - as he looked up at him. "Something bothering you today, Yuugi?" Yami asked.

Yuugi shrugged. He was surprised that Yami had noticed. Yuugi was good at disguising his emotions when he had something to hide. "Kind of. I don't know. It's a family thing, and it's sort of complicated."

"You want to go talk about it somewhere?" Yami offered.

Yuugi shook his head. How would he even going about talking about this kind of thing to Yami? Absolutely not. "Nah, that's okay."

Yami's expression took on a pinched look. Yuugi stared at him curiously. "Do you care?"

"Of course I care," Yami declared earnestly.

Yuugi cocked his head, deciding that maybe testing Yami's composure might be interesting. He'd been meaning to get to the bottom of the older teen's interest in him, anyway, and this morning's sour mood had left him feeling strangely bold and cocky.

"Why do you care?"

Yami looked like he had been completely thrown, which made Yuugi feel smug and just a little bit guilty. He clearly hadn't been expecting resistance. "Well. You know." He stopped and worked his jaw from side to side. "Because, er, because you're my friend, and when something is upsetting you, talking to me would help, right?"

"What if I've already told Ryou?" Yuugi asked.

"Does it matter?" Yami asked back, "Maybe I want to know, too. Maybe I want to know about how you're feeling."

Oh, you do, do you? Yuugi felt warm inside, and light. "Are you going to fix my problems?" Yuugi pressed harder.

Yami was getting riled. "I fixed Ushio for you, didn't I?" Immediately after he said it, his jaw snapped shut, his eyes wide.

Yuugi nodded indulgently, smiling a genuine smile. "That's true, you do have a track record for fixing my problems. And I don't really want to sit through class if you have some idea of where we can go."

"Wait, were you just testing me?" Yami sounded dubious.

"I care about you, too, Yami," Yuugi replied, grabbing Yami's hand, "Now, let's go."

A few short minutes later had Yami hauling Yuugi up after him into the strong branches of the oak tree in the school's courtyard. By the way Yami easily picked out the best branches to climb up onto, it was easy for Yuugi to figure out that this was a secret spot of Yami's at school. It felt so good to be misbehaving on school grounds – Yuugi had no doubt that what they were doing was breaking about four school rules at once, but he didn't care. He decided it was also time to stop doubting Yami's reasons for paying attention to him and just go along with it. So he followed Yami up just high enough that they were able to see over the roof and look out over the city. It thrilled Yuugi to be so high up, and whenever he looked over at Yami, the other was always staring right back at him, a soft look in his eyes.

"So, did you want to talk?" Yami asked

Yuugi shook his head, bangs blowing into his face from the loose wind. "Nah." He laughed at the puzzled expression on Yami's face. "Well, not about earlier. I want to talk about now." When Yami still looked confused, Yuugi continued. "You and me."

Yami blushed slightly, and Yuugi could have laughed at him. This was the great Yami Sennen, King of the School? He was adorable and harmless and so sweet it hurt. Yuugi read him like an open book – he'd always prided himself on being perceptive – and it didn't surprise him at all to be learning that something about his feelings for Yuugi were new to him and threw the older teen off his game. "We don't have to define it, don't worry," Yuugi amended graciously, taking the pressure off, "I'm just really excited for the party with you tonight."

Yami grasped the conversation thread like a lifeline, using it to haul himself back into character. "They're really routine once you've been to enough of them, but Mazaki's are usually pretty fun."

"You can drop your act around me, you know."

Yami quirked his eyebrow at him. "My act?"

Yuugi nodded. "I like you better being yourself, not this false calm disinterest thing you do when we're around other people. I want to get to know you better as Yami the person, not Yami the popular kid."

Yami seemed to mull this over. He scooched closer on the branch so that he was right next to Yuugi. "Well," he began, rolling his jaw around in a facial tick Yuugi was starting to recognize meant he was thinking, "Well then, I guess we'd better start with my name. It's not Yami, it's Atem."

Now it was Yuugi's turn to be thrown. Yami seemed triumphant to have done so, which irked Yuugi in a way that, weirdly enough, made him want to laugh, as if they were playing a game to see who could disarm the other's wits. "It is? Then why does everyone call you Yami?"

"Because we're in Japan." Yami smirked. "My last name, Ahknemkhanen, is Egyptian. You've noticed my skin color, right?" His smirk dropped off of his face, replaced by a kinder look. "Yami is the nickname Bakura and Marik gave me."

"So I'll keep calling you Yami, at least with other people. But when we're alone like this, I'll call you Atem?" Yuugi asked.

One corner of Yami's mouth quirked upwards. "I'd like that a lot, actually." When Yuugi smiled back at him, he playfully added, "That we'll be alone like this again, I mean. I'd like that a lot."

Yuugi laughed loudly, clutching Atem's shoulder for support. Atem laughed along for a moment. "Except I'm serious. Yuugi, I like you."

Yuugi moved his hand from Atem's shoulder, playing his fingers lightly over the other's. "I know. You asked me out yesterday, remember?"

"Yeah, but it felt important to say it now."

Yuugi nodded. "At first, I couldn't really wrap my mind around you liking me, but you really do, don't you?"

"To be fair, I couldn't wrap my mind around it, either." He threw his hands up at Yuugi's dark look. "No offense! I just have never been the type of person to, well, to take special interest in anyone, really, except Bakura and Marik. We stick together, and yeah, we hang out with other people and see other people, but I've never wanted to really, well, know anyone else the way I know them, the way I want to know you."

Yuugi looked out over the roof at downtown Domino in the distance. "I guess that makes sense. I was never popular, so I've had the same friends for a really long time. It just," Yuugi paused, thinking for a way to articulate his thoughts without sounding incredibly pathetic, "was strange to me that you'd want to be friends with me."

"Yuugi, I want to be more than friends."

He was blushing again, but then, so was Yuugi. He stared at Atem, suddenly at a loss for words. Then, he realized that he didn't have to use words at all. Slowly, Yuugi leaned in towards Atem and tilted his chin upwards. His eyelids drooped. Atem met him halfway, closing the distance between their lips with a softness that seemed almost reverent. Yuugi sighed softly. It was a short, simple kiss, but it made Yuugi's mind go blank all the same. When he pulled away, Atem's eyes were open and focused on him. "I need you to know that I'm not the casual type, in spite of what the rumor mill would have you believe. If we're going to do this, I want to know that you want a commitment, Yuugi."

Yuugi hummed for a moment, not wanting to worry Atem, exactly, but enjoying the feeling of momentary power. "I think I can accept those terms."

Atem smiled a sunny smile at him, and Yuugi felt it warm his entire body. "Good. Oh, and I have a nickname for you for when we're alone, since you'll be calling me Atem."

Yuugi chuckled. "You know me well enough to give me a nickname?"

Atem laughed along, too. "Well, no, but I've got a hunch, and I'm hoping it's right." He paused to brush the blond bangs from Yuugi's face. "Aibou."

"Aibou, huh," Yuugi, again, pretended to think it over. Inside, he was glowing with unexpressed happiness he just knew was leaking out onto his face. He couldn't help but be bursting with the emotions he was feeling for Atem, for their new relationship. "It's perfect, Atem."

Atem leaned in again, pressing a slow kiss to Yuugi's forehead. "My aibou."

Yours, Yuugi agreed. And you're mine, too.

They stayed up in the tree for a few more minutes, exchanging chaste kisses and talking about how happy they both were. Eventually, Atem started the climb back down and helped Yuugi do the same so that they could head to their next classes.

"Aibou, do you want to sit with me at lunch today?" Atem asked when they were back on solid ground, pulling Yuugi close with an arm around his waist.

Yuugi giggled as Atem pressed kisses to his cheeks, nose, and forehead. "Can I bring Malik and Ryou along?"

"I'm sure Marik and Bakura would be okay with that."

In fact, they were pretty okay with it. Sort of. Well, they warmed up to the idea.

Bakura was almost beside himself with predatory delight when Ryou came walking up with his other two friends in tow at lunch. "Ryou," he crooned, pulling out the chair next to him and patting it invitingly, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"Uh, Yuugi, I guess," Ryou replied hesitantly, shooting Yuugi a glance.

"Oh," Bakura raised his eyebrows at Yuugi scathingly, "And you would be here… why?"

"Don't be rude, Bakura," Yami called, striding up to the table and slinging his backpack down on the floor. "Sorry I'm late, Yuugi," he apologized.

"It's okay, Yami!" Yuugi said with a smile before turning back to Bakura. "Yami invited us to sit with you guys today."

"Oh, he did, did he?" Bakura raised his eyes to Yami, looking caught between gratitude and disbelief, "We've always sat alone before."

"Well, that's before Yuugi and I became official," Yami announced with unnecessary dramatic flair, "Yuugi and I are dating now!"

The cafeteria was silent.

Marik, who had been watching Malik and making lewd hand gestures up until this point, snapped his head over at Yami. "No shit?"

"No shit," Yami agreed proudly, pulling out a chair and motioning for Yuugi to sit. Yuugi, to his credit, only looked slightly like he wanted to sprint for the exit. "And we're happy to have you three here with us."

Malik pulled out the chair in between Ryou and Yuugi, pointedly keeping away from Marik. "The rest of the school doesn't seem to be," he said loudly. Immediately, conversation resumed, and Malik rolled his eyes. "Honestly, is it that strange for people to join you three here?" 

"Yes," Bakura and Marik said in unison. Bakura added, "Though most of that was definitely Yami's little proclamation."

"It's like this," Marik continued, idly spinning a cafeteria knife between his fingers, "People love Yami, so you'd think they'd be lining up to sit with him. But people are terrified of me, you see." He grinned wolfishly. "And no one really knows what to make of Bakura, which, though I hate to give it to him, is sometimes the bigger deterrent."

Bakura began stroking the back of Ryou's hair, looking immensely pleased with the way his day was turning out. Ryou, who had either grown used to Bakura by now or was too weirded out to react, let him do it.

Yami frowned, and Yuugi noticed him doing the thing with his jaw. "You know, I can't remember the last time anyone other than Mazaki had the balls to sit with us."

"Speaking of," Marik warned in a low tone.

"Well, well! What do we have here, boys? Some fresh faces at the lunch table."

Approaching the lunch table was a tall, slender girl with shoulder length brown hair that she tossed gracefully as she waved a hand in greeting at them. She was wearing a cheerleading uniform that exposed her midriff and most of her thighs and, of all things, heels that made her even taller. Somehow, it worked on her. Malik ran his eyes from top to bottom before nodding in approval.

"Anzu, hey," Yami greeted, motioning for her to sit in the chair next to Marik. She slid into it with impossible grace. "This is my boyfriend, Yuugi, and his friends Malik and Ryou."

Anzu's eyes lit up. "Boyfriend, huh? Yuugi, it's a pleasure to meet you," she greeted, turning her gaze to him and flashing two rows of perfectly straight, white teeth at him.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Anzu," Yuugi replied with a smile, "I can't wait to come to your party tonight!"

Anzu laughed a delighted laugh. "Oh, you don't even know the half of it, Yuugi! God, you're going to love it! Malik and Ryou." She turned to them. "You guys are coming, too, right?"

Ryou nodded. Bakura, still petting Ryou's long, straight hair, also nodded. "He's coming with me."

Anzu shot Yami a knowing look. "Well, that'll certainly be fun. And Malik?"

An awkward silence settled over the table for a moment. Malik, eyebrow quirked in Marik's direction. Marik, eyes wide and expression blank. Yami, glancing between the two of them. Yuugi, sharing one of his pitying looks with Ryou. Bakura, abandoning all social decorum and murmuring inaudible things into the skin of Ryou's neck. Anzu, absorbing the novelty of by far her strangest friends.

Then, "We're, uh, we're going together, right?"

Malik barked out a laugh. "Late much."

Yami leveled a hard stare at Marik. "You said you asked him already."

Marik looked like a cornered animal. "When did I say that?"

Malik laughed again. "He said that?"

"Yesterday!" Yami exclaimed, exasperated.

"I'm asking now," Marik protested.

"Yes, you idiot," Malik shot back, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Who else would I be going with?"

"Wait, really? I'm your first choice?" Marik asked.

Everything got just a touch quieter. The air seemed stiller, charged. Malik looked at Marik with a steady gaze, but his voice was quiet. "Of course. Just as long as I'm not being invited to complete the set we seem to have going on here."

"Malik," Marik said softly. He stood, rounding the table and grabbing Malik's wrist. "We'll be back," he said to the group. Malik shot his friends an apologetic glance as he was whisked unceremoniously from the cafeteria.

Anzu looked shell-shocked.

"He does that now," Yami explained.

"Wait, he does what?" Yuugi asked, confused.

"Care." Bakura picked his head up from Ryou's shoulder. Everyone looked towards him. He shrugged. "He always talks about how he doesn't care about anything. Well, he's caring about something now.


End file.
